Table 2

Potential Legal Liability for Capacity Assessment for MAID by State

State	Is MAID Legal?	Potential Liability for Assessing Capacity for MAID	Statutory Language
Alabama	No	Yes	“Any person who deliberately assists another person to commit suicide or provides aid in dying is guilty of a Class C felony. (b) Any physician or health care provider who prescribes any drug, compound, or substance to a patient deliberately to aid in dying or assists or performs any medical procedure deliberately to aid in dying is guilty of a Class C felony.”⁶⁰
Alaska	No	Yes	“A person commits the crime of manslaughter if the person…intentionally aids another person to commit suicide”⁶¹
Arizona	No	No	Law only applies if providing “physical means” for suicide.⁶²
Arkansas	No	Unclear	“It is unlawful for a physician or healthcare provider to commit the offense of physician-assisted suicide by: (1) Prescribing any drug, compound, or substance to a patient with the express purpose of assisting the patient to intentionally end the patient’s life; or (2) Assisting in any medical procedure for the express purpose of assisting a patient to intentionally end the patient's life.”⁶³
California	Yes	No	NA
Colorado	Yes	No	NA
Connecticut	No	Yes	“A person is guilty of manslaughter in the second degree when…he intentionally causes or aids another person, other than by force, duress or deception, to commit suicide.”⁶⁴
Delaware	No	Yes	“A person is guilty of promoting suicide when the person intentionally causes or aids another person to attempt suicide, or when the person intentionally aids another person to commit suicide.”⁶⁵
District of Columbia	Yes	No	NA
Florida	No	Yes	“Every person deliberately assisting another in the commission of self-murder shall be guilty of manslaughter, a felony of the second degree…”⁶⁶
Georgia	No	Unclear	Georgia’s statute states: “Any person who publicly advertises, offers, or holds himself or herself out as offering that he or she will intentionally and actively assist another person in the commission of suicide and commits any overt act to further that purpose is guilty of a felony and, upon conviction thereof, shall be punished by imprisonment for not less than one nor more than five years.” Whether a hospital psychiatrist conducting a capacity assessment for MAID referral would be considering to be “holding himself or herself out” is uncertain.⁶⁷
Hawaii	Yes	No	NA
Idaho	No	Yes	“A person is guilty of a felony if such person…[p]articipates in a physical act by which another person commits or attempts to commit suicide.” Whether a capacity assessment constitutes a physical act is undetermined.⁶⁸
Illinois	No	Unclear	“A person commits inducement to commit suicide when he or she…[w]ith knowledge that another person intends to commit or attempt to commit suicide, intentionally (i) offers and provides the physical means by which another person commits or attempts to commit suicide, or (ii) participates in a physical act by which another person commits or attempts to commit suicide.” Whether a capacity assessment constitutes a physical act is undetermined.⁶⁹
Indiana	No	Unclear	“A person who has knowledge that another person intends to commit or attempt to commit suicide and who intentionally does either of the following commits assisting suicide, a Level 5 felony: (1) Provides the physical means by which the other person attempts or commits suicide. (2) Participates in a physical act by which the other person attempts or commits suicide.” Whether a capacity assessment constitutes a physical act is undetermined.⁷⁰
Iowa	No	Yes	“A person commits a class ‘C’ felony if the person intentionally or knowingly assists, solicits, or incites another person to commit or attempt to commit suicide, or participates in a physical act by which another person commits or attempts to commit suicide.”⁷¹
Kansas	No	Unclear	“Assisting suicide is…participating in a physical act by which another person commits or attempts to commit suicide.” Whether a capacity assessment constitutes a physical act is undetermined.⁷²
Kentucky	No	Unclear	“A person commits a Class C felony when the person…[p]articipates in a physical act by which another person commits or attempts to commit suicide.” Whether a capacity assessment constitutes a physical act is undetermined.⁷³
Louisiana	No	Yes	“Criminal assistance to suicide is: (1) The intentional advising or encouraging of another person to commit suicide or the providing of the physical means or the knowledge of such means to another person for the purpose of enabling the other person to commit or attempt to commit suicide. (2) The intentional advising, encouraging, or assisting of another person to commit suicide, or the participation in any physical act which causes, aids, abets, or assists another person in committing or attempting to commit suicide.”⁷⁴
Maine	Yes	No	NA
Maryland	No	No	Statute only makes it a crime to “knowingly provide the physical means by which another individual commits or attempts to commit suicide with knowledge of that individual’s intent to use the physical means to commit suicide; or…knowingly participate in a physical act by which another individual commits or attempts to commit suicide.”⁷⁵
Massachusetts	No	No	No statutes in Massachusetts directly addressed MAID, and although the state Supreme Court has found no right to MAID, there do not appear to be grounds for criminal liability for capacity assessments for referral.
Michigan	No	Yes	“A person who knows that an individual intends to kill himself or herself and does any of the following with the intent to assist the individual in killing himself or herself is guilty of criminal assistance to the killing of an individual, a felony punishable by imprisonment for not more than 5 years or a fine of not more than $10,000.00, or both: (a) Provides the means by which the individual attempts to kill himself or herself or kills himself or herself. (b) Participates in an act by which the individual attempts to kill himself or herself or kills himself or herself. (c) Helps the individual plan to attempt to kill himself or herself or to kill himself or herself.”⁷⁶ Of note, the Michigan statute does not preempt common law principles that may also prohibit such assessments.
Minnesota	No	Yes	Statute reads “Whoever intentionally advises, encourages, or assists another in taking the other's own life may be sentenced to imprisonment for not more than 15 years or to payment of a fine of not more than $30,000, or both.”⁷⁷ Subsequent to its passage, the Minnesota Supreme Court in State v. Melchert-Dinkel (2014) declared the “encourages” and “advises” provisions to be unconstitutional but also held that assistance can consist solely of speech.⁷⁸
Mississippi	No	Yes	“A person who willfully, or in any manner, advises, encourages, abets, or assists another person to take, or in taking, the latter’s life, or in attempting to take the latter's life, is guilty of felony and, on conviction, shall be punished by imprisonment in the penitentiary not exceeding ten years, or by fine not exceeding one thousand dollars, and imprisonment in the county jail not exceeding one year.”⁷⁹
Missouri	No	Yes	“A person commits the offense of voluntary manslaughter if he or she…[k]nowingly assists another in the commission of self-murder.”⁸⁰
Montana	Yes	No	Of note, providers may still face sanction from employers and professional associations.
Nebraska	No	Yes	“A person commits assisting suicide when, with intent to assist another person in committing suicide, he aids and abets him in committing or attempting to commit suicide.”⁸¹
Nevada	No	No	No statutes in Nevada directly addressed MAID.
New Hampshire	No	Yes	“A person is guilty of causing or aiding suicide if he purposely aids or solicits another to commit suicide”; “Causing or aiding suicide is a class B felony if the actor’s conduct causes such suicide or an attempted suicide. Otherwise it is a misdemeanor.”⁸²
New Jersey	Yes	No	NA
New Mexico	Yes	No	NA
New York	No	Yes	“A person is guilty of promoting a suicide attempt when he intentionally causes or aids another person to attempt suicide. Promoting a suicide attempt is a class E felony.”⁸³
North Carolina	No	No	No statute appears to apply to MAID in North Carolina.
North Dakota	No	Yes	“Any person who intentionally or knowingly aids, abets, facilitates, solicits, or incites another person to commit suicide, or who provides to, delivers to, procures for, or prescribes for another person any drug or instrument with knowledge that the other person intends to attempt to commit suicide with the drug or instrument is guilty of a class C felony.”⁸⁴
Ohio	No	Unclear	“No person shall knowingly cause another person to commit or attempt to commit suicide by…[p]articipating in a physical act by which the other person commits or attempts to commit suicide.”⁸⁵ Whether a capacity assessment constitutes a physical act is undetermined.
Oklahoma	No	Yes	“Every person who willfully, in any manner, advises, encourages, abets, or assists another person in taking his own life, is guilty of aiding suicide.”⁸⁶
Oregon	Yes	No	NA
Pennsylvania	No	Yes	“Aiding or soliciting suicide as an independent offense. A person who intentionally aids or solicits another to die by suicide is guilty of a felony of the second degree if his conduct causes such suicide or an attempted suicide, and otherwise of a misdemeanor of the second degree.”⁸⁷
Rhode Island	No	Yes	“An individual or licensed health care practitioner who with the purpose of assisting another person to commit suicide knowingly…[p]articipates in a physical act by which another person commits or attempts to commit suicide is guilty of a felony and upon conviction may be punished by imprisonment for up to ten years, by a fine of up to ten thousand dollars ($10,000) or both.”⁸⁸
South Carolina	No	Unclear	“It is unlawful for a person to assist another person in committing suicide. A person assists another person in committing suicide if the person…participates in a physical act by which the other person commits or attempts to commit suicide.”; “The licensing agency which issued a license or certification to a licensed health care professional who assists in a suicide in violation of subsection…shall revoke or suspend the license or certification of that person” on conviction.⁸⁹
South Dakota	No	Yes	“Any person who intentionally in any manner advises, encourages, abets, or assists another person in taking or in attempting to take his or her own life is guilty of a Class 6 felony.”⁹⁰
Tennessee	No	Unclear	“A person commits the offense of assisted suicide who: (1) Intentionally provides another person with the means by which such person directly and intentionally brings about such person's own death; or (2) Intentionally participates in a physical act by which another person directly and intentionally brings about such person's own death.” Whether capacity assessment for referral might be considered “intentionally participates in a physical act” is unclear.⁹¹
Texas	No	Yes	“A person commits an offense if, with intent to promote or assist the commission of suicide by another, he aids or attempts to aid the other to commit or attempt to commit suicide.”⁹²
Utah	No	Yes	“An actor commits manslaughter if the actor…intentionally, and with knowledge that another individual intends to commit suicide or attempt to commit suicide, aids the individual to commit suicide.”⁹³
Vermont	Yes	No	NA
Virginia	No	Yes	Civil liability and professional misconduct. “Any person who knowingly and intentionally, with the purpose of assisting another person to commit or attempt to commit suicide, participates in a physical act by which another person commits or attempts to commit suicide shall be liable for damages as provided in this section and may be enjoined from such acts.”⁹⁴; “A licensed health care provider who assists or attempts to assist a suicide shall be considered to have engaged in unprofessional conduct for which his certificate or license to provide health care services in the Commonwealth shall be suspended or revoked by the licensing authority.”⁹⁴
Washington	Yes	No	NA
West Virginia	No	No	No statutes in West Virginia directly addressed MAID, although it is mentioned in passing in the state’s advance directive law.⁹⁵
Wisconsin	No	Yes	“Whoever with intent that another take his or her own life assists such person to commit suicide is guilty of a Class H felony.”⁹⁶
Wyoming	No	Unclear	“A person is guilty of criminally negligent homicide if he causes the death of another person by conduct amounting to criminal negligence.”⁹⁷

MAID, medical aid in dying